Given the intensity of the criticism being leveled at President Biden over his decision to pull out of Afghanistan, I am going to sound a little like a lonely voice in the void.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that about 1,500 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan. He said that the United States has flown more than 80,000 evacuees out of the country as the Taliban have cemented their hold on the government.
One thousand five hundred! Hmm. Does that sound like an evac plan that has failed? It does not to me.
US says about 1,500 citizens remain in Afghanistan | TheHill
To be sure, if I were king of the world I would have wanted Joe Biden to extend the evacuation deadline a bit past the Aug. 31 date he set when he announced our withdrawal. Our allies around the world want us to extend it. President Biden is adamant that the deadline will hold … although he is leaving just a touch of wiggle room to extend it if circumstances demand it. His concern is of attacks from the Taliban and Islamic State terrorists on our troops providing security at Kabul’s airport.
I am not the world king. Then again, neither is President Biden, although he is the leader of the world’s most powerful nation and commander in chief of the greatest military machine ever assembled. He knows what he faces if he doesn’t deliver on his pledge to get everyone out of there “who wants to leave.”
Yes, the evacuation plan should have been lined out chapter and verse long before the president gave the pull-out order. However, the administration appears — at least to my eyes — set to deliver on its pledge to get our citizens and our allies out of harm’s way.
None of this will stop the critics. The nature of politics and policy these days is to grab onto the largest bullhorn one can find and shout at the top of one’s lungs about all you see going wrong.
The critics will have their say. I believe they will be mistaken.